Film Shorts

The Grey (R) Liam Neeson stars in this thriller as a member of an Alaskan oil drilling team stranded in the wilderness after their plane crashes. Also with Dermot Mulroney, Dallas Roberts, Frank Grillo, Nonso Anonzie, James Badge Dale, and Joe Anderson. (Opens Friday)

Man on a Ledge (PG-13) After a promising start, this thriller falls off a … I’m not even going through with the metaphor. Fumbling his American accent at every turn, Sam Worthington plays an ex-New York City cop and escaped convict who threatens to jump to his death from a Manhattan hotel, but it’s all a diversion so that his name can be cleared by his brother (Jamie Bell) through an extralegal investigation. How these characters acquired the skills of high-end bank robbers is never explained, nor are the increasing contrivances piled on top of this slim plot. Elizabeth Banks cuts through her share of the B.S. as a police negotiator with a troubled past who tries to talk the guy off the ledge, but she’s fighting a losing effort. Also with Ed Harris, Genesis Rodriguez, Anthony Mackie, Edward Burns, Titus Welliver, J. Smith-Cameron, and Kyra Sedgwick. (Opens Friday)

The Adventures of Tintin (PG) Hergé’s comic series about an intrepid, globe-trotting reporter finds a kindred spirit in Steven Spielberg, who turns it into a fun animated movie. Jamie Bell provides the voice of the reporter, whose purchase of a model ship leads him on a search for a hidden treasure with a drunken sea captain (voiced by Andy Serkis). Spielberg’s flair for staging chase scenes is enhanced by the medium, the script is sharp and funny, and the animation by Weta Digital finds a happy middle ground between Hergé’s cartoonish art and a 3D digitized representation. Everyone gets into the spirit of this free-spirited adventure. Additional voices by Daniel Craig, Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Daniel Mays, Gad Elmaleh, Cary Elwes, and Toby Jones.

Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked (G) The latest installment finds Alvin, Simon, and Theodore and their female counterparts Brittany, Jeanette, and Eleanor lost on a deserted island, after a mishap with a kite whisks them away from the vacation cruise they’ve taken with Dave (Jason Lee). The furry pop stars fend for themselves against the islands mild perils, including a crazy treasure hunter (Jenny Slate) who lives with a collection of sports balls with faces drawn on them. Dave and villainous former record exec Ian (David Cross) hop on a hang glider in pursuit and wash ashore, too. Overall, the hijinks aren’t terribly funny, but the occasional references to Lost (along with a Mark Mothersbaugh score that frequently makes appropriately dissonant nods to the show) are amusing for the grownups. Kids raised on a diet of candy and KISS FM will probably like most of it. Voices by Justin Long, Michael Gray Gubler, Jesse McCartney, Christina Applegate, Anna Faris, and Amy Poehler. — Steve Steward

The Artist (PG-13) This unexpectedly emotionally draining French silent film stars Jean Dujardin as a 1920s Hollywood silent-movie star who refuses to adjust to sound. Writer-director Michel Hazanavicius (OSS 117) does this up largely as pastiche, referencing A Star Is Born, Singin’ in the Rain, and Chaplin’s comedies, but the main character’s hubris-fueled descent into poverty gives the film its dramatic power, helped by Ludovic Bource’s emotive score and Dujardin’s performance as a charmer trying to summon his charm in the face of disaster. Instead of a simplistic ode to the olden days, Hazanavicius pays tribute to technological progress while keeping an eye on its victims. All this and a few tap dance numbers contribute to the magic of this film. Also with Bérénice Bejo, James Cromwell, Penelope Ann Miller, Missi Pyle, Malcolm McDowell, and John Goodman.

Beauty and the Beast (PG) They’re going to keep regifting us these things, aren’t they? Following last year’s 3D re-release of The Lion King, Disney does a similar job on their 1991 musical version of the fairy tale about a French village girl (voiced by Paige O’Hara) who falls in love with a prince who’s been transformed into a hideous creature (voiced by Robby Benson). The 3D layering is unnecessary at best, and some aspects of the story have dated. Still, the Alan Menken-Howard Ashman songs hold up quite well and carry the story, especially as sung by O’Hara and Angela Lansbury. Clear out of the theater before Celine Dion and Peabo Bryson butcher the title song over the end credits. Additional voices by Richard White, David Ogden Stiers, Bradley Pierce, Jesse Corti, Hal Smith, and the late Jerry Orbach.

Contraband (R) This distinctly average crime thriller stars Mark Wahlberg as a retired New Orleans smuggler who’s brought back for One Last Score after his feckless brother-in-law (Caleb Landry Jones) goes into debt with a vicious active hood (Giovanni Ribisi). The bad guy’s antics are as over-the-top as Ribisi’s performance, and he’s stuck in the boring Stateside half of the film while Wahlberg ships out to Panama to bring back some counterfeit U.S. currency aboard a cargo ship. Director Baltasar Kormákur does it all up professionally, though not energetically. The film is a remake of the 2008 Icelandic film Reykjavik-Rotterdam, which Kormákur starred in. Also with Kate Beckinsale, Ben Foster, J.K. Simmons, Lukas Haas, David O’Hara, Kevin “Lucky” Johnson, Ólafur Darri Ólafsson, and Diego Luna.

The Descendants (R) Alexander Payne’s films are about unremarkable people, which makes the star wattage of George Clooney an odd fit with this story (based on Kaui Hart Hemmings’ novel) about a wealthy Hawaii lawyer trying to raise two daughters (Shailene Woodley and Amara Miller) after his wife is rendered comatose by a boating accident. The movie (an opening night selection at the recent Lone Star Film Festival) just misses masterpiece status, but there’s still much to like. The writing is sharp, the landscapes are beautiful, and even the small roles are brilliantly acted. Woodley is a real find, and Clooney is terrific even though he’s miscast. The film never achieves the exquisite balance of comedy and pathos that it’s going for, but it’s very good. Also with Judy Greer, Matthew Lillard, Nick Krause, Beau Bridges, and Robert Forster.

The Devil Inside (R) Demonic possession is no laughing matter, unless you’re watching The Devil Inside. This fake documentary stars Fernanda Andrade as a college student en route to Vatican City to visit her mother (Susan Crowley), long-since secreted away in a Catholic sanitarium after murdering three people during an alleged exorcism when Isabella was a child. Sadly, a belief in demons is the smallest leap of faith you have to make for this movie. Never mind the ridiculousness of a student and her filmmaker buddy’s apparent unlimited access to a Vatican exorcism class and a church-sponsored sanitarium; the most unbelievable part of this stinker is that demons aren’t scary, even when they’re dislocating their hosts’ shoulders or tossing priests across the room. Add a completely unsatisfying ending, and you have a film that does a disservice to multiple genres. Also with Simon Quatermain, Evan Helmuth, Ionut Grama, and Brian Johnson. — S.S.

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (PG-13) This horrible piece of 9/11 kitsch stars Thomas Horn as a phobic nine-year-old boy who tries to figure out the meaning of a key left to him by his father (Tom Hanks), who was killed in the World Trade Center terrorist attack. Some of the flaws in this film come from the Jonathan Safran Foer novel that it’s based on — the mute tenant played by Max von Sydow is a deeply unfortunate cliché. However, this weepy, overheated debacle mostly springs from director Stephen Daldry (The Reader, The Hours), who brings out the worst in both his actors and composer Alexandre Desplat, and frames every shot as if to tell us, “This is really meaningful.” Save your money for a commemorative t-shirt. Also with Sandra Bullock, Viola Davis, John Goodman, Zoe Caldwell, and Jeffrey Wright.

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (R) The best film version of Stieg Larsson’s novel that we were likely to get. David Fincher’s thriller stars Daniel Craig as a disgraced Swedish journalist who becomes a serial killer’s target while investigating a decades-old disappearance. Rooney Mara portrays the series’ vengeful dark angel, Lisbeth Salander, and while she’s a disturbingly disengaged, wraithlike presence, she doesn’t bring the feral edge that Noomi Rapace brought to the role in the Swedish film version. Still, Fincher brings his typically meticulous and professional treatment to the material, covering a great deal of ground without derailing the momentum of this swift 158-minute film. If the filmmakers never transcend the book’s limitations, they do leave us primed for Salander’s further adventures. Also with Christopher Plummer, Stellan Skarsgård, Yorick van Wageningen, Joely Richardson, Steven Berkoff, Geraldine James, Goran Visnjic, Donald Sumpter, and Robin Wright.

Haywire (R) The title is wrong. This is actually a tightly controlled and emotionally subdued piece of work. It’s the closest thing to a pure action-thriller that Steven Soderbergh has ever done, and he’s unsurprisingly good at it. MMA fighter Gina Carano stars as a Marine-turned-CIA contractor who’s sold out by a string of male superiors and runs for her life and kicks ass over two continents to find out who’s at the end of it. Carano’s not much of an actor, but she comes alive in the action sequences, whether it’s a life-and-death brawl with Michael Fassbender in a hotel suite or an extended chase scene through the streets and over the rooftops of Dublin. The holes in the plot are papered over by the fluidity of Soderbergh’s direction. Also with Ewan McGregor, Channing Tatum, Michael Angarano, Mathieu Kassovitz, Bill Paxton, Antonio Banderas, and Michael Douglas.

Hugo (PG) Martin Scorsese’s children’s fable brings out the primitive, elemental magic of filmmaking. Based on Brian Selznick’s remarkable illustrated novel The Invention of Hugo Cabret, this movie stars Asa Butterfield as a 13-year-old orphaned boy who winds the clocks in a 1930s Paris train station when he and a girl (Chloë Grace Moretz) discover that her embittered adoptive father (Ben Kingsley) is Georges Méliès, a genius of early film who’s now a neglected toy shop owner. Scorsese uses the 3D technology with unprecedented subtlety, giving depth and complexity even to throwaway shots of desk clutter. The story runs into a few wrong notes and dead spots in the early going, but the splendid segments depicting Méliès’ creations of his fantasy films are enough to give even the most jaded moviegoers a new appreciation for the power of cinema. Also with Sacha Baron Cohen, Helen McCrory, Michael Stuhlbarg, Emily Mortimer, Ray Winstone, Richard Griffiths, Frances de la Tour, Christopher Lee, and Jude Law.

The Iron Lady (R) Phyllida Lloyd’s biography of Margaret Thatcher tries to avoid the clichés of political bios and view the former British prime minister’s accomplishments through the prism of her dementia-riddled old age. It’s a bold gambit. It doesn’t work. Abi Morgan’s script deliberately skirts Thatcher’s politics, so we never learn how she rose through the ranks, let alone the thinking behind her strongest-held principles or her most controversial decisions. Meryl Streep does a hell of a Thatcher impression in the lead role, but without context, her performance belongs in a Saturday Night Live sketch instead of a serious political drama. Why do we care about an old woman’s loss of her mental faculties when the movie gives us only the faintest idea of who she is? Both Streep and Thatcher deserved better. Also with Jim Broadbent, Richard E. Grant, Olivia Colman, Alexandra Roach, Roger Allam, Michael Pennington, Anthony Head, and Iain Glen.

Joyful Noise (PG-13) Not half bad, really. Todd Graff’s musical centers on a rural Georgia church choir trying to win a national choral competition. The power struggle between the choir director (Queen Latifah) and a wealthy church benefactress (Dolly Parton) is mostly forced, but the supporting characters are interesting and layered (especially Jesse L. Martin as the director’s estranged husband), the signs of economic decline help give urgency to the group’s efforts, and the romantic plot between Keke Palmer and Jeremy Jordan is well-taken. For inoffensive family entertainment, you could do a lot worse. Also with Dexter Darden, Courtney B. Vance, Judd Lormand, Kirk Franklin, and Kris Kristofferson.

Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol (PG-13) Arguably the best of the M:I movies since the first one, this fourth installment stars Tom Cruise as a secret agent who’s forced to go rogue with two colleagues (Paula Patton and Simon Pegg) and a State Department analyst (Jeremy Renner) after they’re framed for a terrorist bombing in Moscow. Director Brad Bird (Ratatouille, The Incredibles) makes his live-action debut with some splashy action set pieces, especially a sequence with Cruise dangling off the side of the Burj Khalifa tower. This action flick isn’t deep, but it’s a tasty bit of escapism. Also with Léa Seydoux, Michael Nyqvist, Anil Kapoor, Vladimir Mashkov, Josh Holloway, and uncredited cameos by Tom Wilkinson, Ving Rhames, and Michelle Monaghan.

Red Tails (PG-13) A bunch of The Wire alumni get together for this sprawling historical epic based on John B. Holway’s account of the Tuskegee Airmen and their fight to be accepted as fighter pilots during World War II. There’s a totally unnecessary romantic subplot and too many stock characters populating this war movie — the hard-drinking squad leader (Nate Parker), the reckless daredevil (David Oyelowo), the God-fearing Christian (Marcus T. Paulk), the fresh-faced youngster (Tristan Wilds). Still, the story is eminently worth telling on the big screen, and the impressive roster of talent (headlined by Terrence Howard as the unit’s commander) makes it watchable. Also with Cuba Gooding Jr., Elijah Kelley, Andre Royo, Michael B. Jordan, Daniela Ruah, Gerald McRaney, Bryan Cranston, Ne-Yo, and Method Man.

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (PG-13) The great detective returns, but he’s too busy dodging bullets to make much use of his detective skills, which is partly why this sequel is so disappointing. Robert Downey Jr. reprises his role, this time trying to prevent Professor Moriarty (Jared Harris) from starting a world war. The comic chemistry between Downey’s Holmes and Jude Law’s Watson is still here, and director Guy Ritchie comes up with two engaging twists on the device from the original in which Holmes thinks through his fight sequences before they happen. Yet Holmes’ deductive reasoning powers are reduced to sleight of hand and a series of silly disguises. If you’re not going to show off Holmes’ brains, why bother with him at all? Also with Noomi Rapace, Stephen Fry, Kelly Reilly, Paul Anderson, Eddie Marsan, and Rachel McAdams.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (R) This adaptation of John le Carré’s spy novel is better if you’ve already read the book or seen the 1979 TV miniseries, but even newcomers can appreciate the intelligence and craftsmanship at work. Gary Oldman portrays a retired British spy who’s brought back to MI6 to find a Soviet double agent at the top of the agency. Director Tomas Alfredson (Let the Right One In) creates a sense of claustrophobia by photographing characters behind glass partitions or in frames within the frame, and he stylishly captures the dowdiness of cold-war Britain — you can practically feel the rising damp. Gary Oldman can’t match the hooded watchfulness that Alec Guinness brought to the role, but his quiet strength mirrors the film’s. Also with Colin Firth, Toby Jones, Ciarán Hinds, Mark Strong, John Hurt, David Dencik, Kathy Burke, Stephen Graham, Simon McBurney, Konstantin Khabensky, Svetlana Khodchenkova, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Tom Hardy.

Underworld: Awakening (R) Even the return of Kate Beckinsale and her one-piece leather outfit can’t jolt this fourth installment to life. Nor can the plot, which involves the vampire warrior being roused from a 12-year enforced slumber and discovering that she has a daughter (India Eisley) with some powers of her own. Directors Måns Mårlind and Björn Stein find a pretty 3D visual effect with an anti-werewolf grenade that releases silver particles into the air. Unfortunately, they fall down on the numerous action sequences and make the mistake of thinking we care about the events in the previous three films. We don’t, and we don’t care about this one either. Also with Michael Ealy, Stephen Rea, Theo James, Sandrine Holt, Kris Holden-Ried, Charles Dance, and an uncredited Wes Bentley.

War Horse (PG-13) Steven Spielberg’s uneven, overlong adaptation of Michael Morpurgo’s book was inspired by the recent stage version but in no way mimics it. Instead, Spielberg films this story (about a rambunctious horse that survives World War I after passing through the hands of various owners on both sides) in an earnest, unironically epic manner. The film sports good performances and one remarkable scene between a British soldier and a German soldier working together in no man’s land to free the horse from barbed wire. Yet these bits don’t come often enough to build up any momentum. Both Spielberg and other filmmakers have been to this territory before, and they’ve done it better. Starring Jeremy Irvine, Emily Watson, Peter Mullan, David Thewlis, Niels Arestrup, Tom Hiddleston, Benedict Cumberbatch, Celine Buckens, Toby Kebbell, Geoff Bell, David Kross, Rainer Bock, Robert Emms, Hinnerk Schönemann, and Eddie Marsan.

We Bought a Zoo (PG) By the standards of PG-rated movies about animals, this is sharply written and engages some unexpectedly thorny issues in a grown-up way. By the standards of Cameron Crowe movies, this falls flat. Adapted from Benjamin Mee’s memoir, this dramedy stars Matt Damon as a widowed journalist who moves his two kids into a house attached to a run-down zoo. The movie’s treatment of bereavement isn’t nearly as good as The Descendants’ and a couple of forceful scenes near the end (one involving Scarlett Johansson as a zookeeper arguing that an aged lion needs to be put down) only show what the rest of the movie is lacking. Crowe is still flailing for direction. Also with Thomas Haden Church, Colin Ford, Maggie Elizabeth Jones, Angus Macfadyen, Patrick Fugit, John Michael Higgins, J.B. Smoove, Carla Gallo, Peter Riegert, Stephanie Szostak, and Elle Fanning.

DALLAS EXCLUSIVES:

In the Land of Blood and Honey (R) Angelina Jolie’s first film as writer-director is this English-language war film about a Serbian soldier (Goran Kostic) and a Muslim artist (Zara Marjanovic) whose romance is transformed when ethnic violence overtakes Bosnia in the 1990s. Also with Rade Šerbedžija, Vanesa Glodjo, Nikola Djuricko, Branko Djuric, Fedja Stukan, Alma Terzic, and Jelena Jovanova.

Shame (NC-17) Michael Fassbender stars in Steve McQueen’s drama about a New Yorker whose struggles with sex addiction come to a head when his sister (Carey Mulligan) visits him. Also with James Badge Dale and Nicole Beharie.

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